A Glimpse at Life in Etobicoke in 1845.

The following introduction and letter were published in the Ipswich Journal in Suffolk England on Saturday, August 30, 1845:

EMIGRANTS IN CANADA – The following letter has been handed to us for insertion. It is from a farmer, we must now call him, but formerly one of the labourers of Kettleburgh, who emigrated from that parish about seven years ago, and gives a very cheering account of his improved condition in life:

Etobicoke, May 12, 1845.

Dear Father and Mother,

I take this opportunity of writing to you, hoping that these few lines will find you in good health, as it leaves me at present. I must inform you that I got married in the year 1841, but we have no family. I have also taken a rented farm, and I have been on it 3 years, and we can get along very well: we have got 3 horses, and 4 cows, and 8 sheep, and 14 lambs, and 20 pigs, besides ducks and chickens; and we have got 10 acres of wheat, and 3 of peas, and 6 of barley, and 5 of oats, and a few potatoes for our own use; and we have every reason to thank God that we have plenty to eat and plenty of clothing and to spare. We pay 12s.6d. per acre rent for our land, and it is of the best quality. The country is well settled where I live: we have plenty of mills close by – stores, blacksmiths, joiners, shoemakers, tailors, and every thing else same as you at home.

We live 13 miles from the city of Toronto, where we have a good market for everything that we have got to sell, and we get cash for everything. Wheat sells at this time at 4s. per bushel; peas 2s.; oats from 1s.6d. to 2s.; potatoes, 1s.6d.; flour, 20s. per barrel; butter, 8d, per lb; eggs, 6d. per dozen; mutton, 4d. per lb; beef. 3d. per lb; veal 2d. to 3d. per lb; pork, 4½ d. per lb. Grog sells very low – brandy, 4s. per gallon; rum 4s. per gallon. Whiskey is a cheap article – it knocks folks down very quick, those that drink it; it sells at 1s.8d. per gallon. Tea, 2s.6d. per lb; so all you old women that love tea, come to America, and you may get a good cup of tea, and have it well sweetened! Sugar is only 4d. per lb, and you get it for nothing by tapping the trees. We have made 40 lbs. this season; some make from 50 to 100 lbs. This we in general make the time the snow begins to go off. We first bore a hole into the tree with an auger about 3 feet from the bottom, & then drive a wedge in the bottom part of the hole and that carries the sap into a trough; then we boil it in a big pan until it becomes sugar.

I suppose you would ask how we clear our land. I shall answer, we chop down the trees, and then cut off the boughs, and throw them on large heaps, and burn them; we then cut our trees into lengths about 14 feet long, and then we draw them together, and roll them upon large heaps, and burn them. We have a sort of timber we use for rails for fencing; those that will split well we cut 12 feet long, then split them up, and make rails of them. We make our fences of rails, and this is the way we make our fences XXXX; we lay it that way, that is, the bottom rail, we lay them ten in height: that is the way we fence all our land. When we chop our land, we chop the trees 3 feet from the ground; when it is cleared we sow wheat on the ground without ploughing, only harrow it. We always get the first crop without ploughing on new land, but when we come to ploughing, I will tell you it is a job; the roots go bang bang against our shins; the stumps are 7 or 8 years before they come out, and then we have very fine land.

It is a very pleasant and healthful county, and we have a little game – such as quails, and partridges are only scarce. We have a few rabbits, and black and red squirrels and chitmunks (sic) (this is a very pretty little animal.) We have also ground hogs and rackoons (sic), foxes, wolves, bears, and deer. I have shot 8 or 9 deer myself. We have plenty of wild pigeons in the fall of the year; they almost darken the air. My brother John is well; he is married, and has one daughter; he lives only about 200 yards from my house; he has one cow; he has built a small house on the road.

Dear Father and Mother, I must now conclude my letter; but before I conclude I must tell you that I should like to see you once more, but I fear I never shall on this side of the grave, unless you come here, and I should like you, too, as I know you would do better here than at home. Write back as soon as possible, and tell us where to direct my letter to. Direct your letter to “Thomas Brennan, Etobicoke, near the city of Toronto, Upper Canada.” I send my kind love to you all. So no more at present from,

Your affectionate Son,

THOMAS BRENNAN

Footnotes from Denise Harris:

Thanks to Guylaine Pétrin for forwarding this interesting letter to me. I find it fascinating that Thomas didn’t tell his parents anything about his or John’s wife or their granddaughter – not even their names! So I tried to find out what happened to Thomas and John Brennan after this letter was written.

I found them both in the 1846-7 Home District Directory living in Etobicoke, with their surname misspelled as Brunnan. Thomas is shown as being located on two lots that were kitty-corner to each other: Conc. 1, Lot 32 (between Kipling & Martin Grove, by the West Humber River) and Conc. A, Lot 33 (between Kipling & Islington, just south of Albion Rd.) John is shown at Conc. 4, Lot 27 (a small lot west of Carlingview Dr., about where Disco Rd. is today.) They did not own these properties: maps & land records indicate that these lots were subdivided into several smaller parcels, and the Brennans would have been renting one of these smaller plots. Thomas’ property is, as he said in his letter, about 13 miles from the City of Toronto.

The Brennans do not appear in the 1852 Census of Canada West, but neither does it appear that they returned to England. I did find both a Thomas and a John Brennan living in Welland County in the 1861 census. In 1847, John Grubb purchased Lot 33, Conc. A in Etobicoke and filed a plan of subdivision for a village there that would become Thistletown. It is likely that Thomas’ lease on that land was terminated as a result, so he and John may have decided to seek their fortunes elsewhere in Ontario. If these are indeed our Brennan brothers in Welland in 1861, they were Roman Catholic and born in Ireland, Thomas in 1816 and John in 1824. Thomas’ wife was named Fanny, born in Ireland, ca. 1815. It appears that they never had any children. Thomas died prior to the 1871 census and Fanny prior to 1881. John’s wife was named Mary, born in Ireland ca. 1826. They had 8 children. John died sometime after 1881 and Mary died in 1896.